The invention relates to a transporting means and a vacuum coating installation for substrates of different sizes.
An important application for vacuum coating installations is the coating of planar substrates, for example glass panes, with thin layers, for example for the reflection of infrared radiation. Here, in principle, two types of installations are distinguished. In horizontal vacuum coating installations the substrates are transported through the vacuum chamber lying flat on a transporting device. Such transporting devices frequently comprise an arrangement of transport rollers, with at least some of them can be driven.
In vertical vacuum coating installations the substrates are transported through the vacuum chamber standing on a transporting device. Here, too, frequently transporting devices are used comprising an arrangement of transport rollers with some of them can be driven. The substrates either stand directly on the transporting rollers (carrier-less transportation) at an edge or they are held in a transportation frame (carrier), which in turn stands on the transporting roller. In both cases the substrates are either aligned precisely vertically or slightly tilted in reference to the vertical direction in order to achieve a stably balanced position.
Vertical vacuum coating installations are generally designed for coating a certain size of substrates. This means that the transporting device and the coating source are arranged inside the vacuum chamber and in reference to each other such that an optimal coating result is achieved for the intended substrate size. Due to this fact vertical vacuum coating installations of prior art are relatively inflexible with regard to the size of the substrates to be coated. Therefore there is a need for technical solutions allowing to coat substrates of different sizes optionally with or without any carriers, in a vertical vacuum coating installation.